Alstom designs dangerous flaw into the PL42AC door!

Well folks, Alstom has done it to us again. They managed to design an extremely dangerous door that doubles as a guillotine. We have already had one very serious injury because of this poor design feature and we certainly expect more. While the Engineering Department at Alstom and some members of the NJ Transit staff may feel that this is a harsh characterization of the situation I firmly believe that any design that allows an employee to catch his/her fingers in a pinch point during the normal course of their duties, even inadvertently, such as demonstrated below by a member of the BLE&T Ergonomics Committee, is a poor design and a correction must be found. 

So, unless you enjoy the pain that comes with the amputation of your thumb and until such time as this design flaw can be corrected, we advise all employees to be particularly careful when closing all doors on the PL42AC locomotives. Wrap your thumb around the door handle and be particularly watchful for pinch points on all the PL42AC doors, including the interior doors (there has also been a nasty injury closing the interior door to the cab).

The Safety Department's answer to the problem is to have red reflective tape applied to the edges of all the exterior doors as a reminder of the possible danger of losing a thumb and the Mechanical Department has promised to look for a correction of this dangerous design but until then:

Be careful out there.
The worst kind of settlement is one you've earned!

Exclusive photo by Bob Vallochi, General Chairman, BLE&T

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